Digimon X7
by Mokuseino Tenka
Summary: In the modern world, Digimon is but a television show, a manga, or a game. Of course, tell that to the kids who saved it February 2005. Now, the only remaining digidestined is leading a team spanning through Canada and the US.


1 - - 1

It was one minute before the dismissal bell would ring. Marie and Aaron were outside of their room. Aaron was at his locker and Marie was heading down the hall. "See ya later," she called, looking over her shoulder.

"See ya, Marie," Aaron replied. He was just about to close the door when a bright flash of light shocked him, causing him to recoil against his locker. It disappeared after lingering a moment. Aaron looked for the source, and instead found Marie on the floor in a heap. "Marie!" He hurried over to her. Just as he got to her, he heard the first ding of the bell. Then, a bright flash of light enveloped them both. The students of the nearby room recoiled. When the light disappeared, they hurried out to see what had happened. The hallway was empty, save for two bags and a handful of dazed students.

Up north in Canada, Cian was also getting out of school. The senior was just getting to his bike when a bright flash of light from an unknown origin lit the whole overcast sky, blinding the staff and students in the parking lot. When it disappeared, Cian's bike was alone.

To the east, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, another senior by the name of Felix, who had gotten out of school an hour earlier, was getting ready to go and pick up his girlfriend. He had just made it to his car and was about to unlock it when the entire area became unbearably bright. It became so in the time-span of a camera flash. When it was over, neighbors looked around in confusion, not noticing a pair of car keys beside a locked, empty car.

Down to the south and the west in Cincinnati, Ohio, a college student named Katrina was going to pick up her many books from her desk. Students filed out around her. The lights suddenly became dull as a light like that of a camera flashed suddenly in the room. When it was gone, the stunned students heard the flopping and slamming of medical books hitting the table and floor.

The sun was hot on the roof of Tori's father's house. She reached up and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. She stood to go to the other side to get more shingles when a loose one gave away under her yellow rubber boots. She screamed as she slipped down to the edge of the roof. Just as she left the edge and began free-falling to the ground two-stories below, a car drove by, the sun reflecting on the roof. Only, the light it reflected was brighter than it should have been. When it passed, Tori was gone. Her father looked over the edge of the roof in horror, and then in confusion.

In a pure-white, empty space appeared six flashes of light. Six humans appeared on the white ground that could be mistake for anything else. One fell a short distance before hitting the ground. Another was unconscious on the ground, the other four were standing. "What the hell...?" Aaron said under his breath. He knelt beside Marie as he looked around. He went to shaker her shoulder, but she stirred before he touched her. "You okay?" he asked, flinching as his voice echoed. "Wha-?"

"Where am I?" Katrina asked, looking at the endless-seeming area around them.

"I don't really care," Tori said, counting her blessing for the shortened fall. It was obvious she was the youngest of the six.

"I do," Felix said. "What the hell? I'm supposed to be picking my girlfriend up."

"I wonder if we're dead," Cian said. "Perhaps this is heaven."

"I'd believe it," Tori said. "I just fell from a two-story roof."

"Not me," Aaron said. "I was just the hallway when- Marie, you okay?" He looked at her as she got to her feet.

"Yeah," she said. "What happened?"

"You collapsed!" Aaron said. "There was this flash of light, and then I look and find you on the ground. I go to you, then there's another flash of light, then we're here."

Marie looked down at the camera on her necklace as Tori said, "I fell from my dad's two-story roof when there was a flash of light. I thought it was death, like a flash of light to the tunnel or something."

"There was a flash of light when I was in the parking lot of my school, about to unlock my bike," Cian chipped in.

"I was in my driveway," Felix added. "There was a flash of light just before I unlocked my car."

"I was in class, picking my books up from my desk," Katrina said. "There was a flash of light there, too. I thought it was someone's camera."

"Gennai!" Marie shouted. The others winced as her voice echoed roughly. "Gennai, are you here?"

"Who it Gennai?" Aaron asked.

"I was wondering when you'd ask," said a voice. Everyone looked around for the source of the voice before looking in Marie's direction. They were surprised to see a short old man approached them, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "I imagine you know what is going on."

"There's trouble, and you need a new team," Marie said monotonously. "And, I daresay you would. The last was wiped out. Gennai, what's the trouble now and why don't you ask before just taking people out to do this?"

"For one, I doubt anyone would believe me," the old mane named Gennai said. "Two, no one would want to. Three, it's random. The trouble? You might recognize it. Someone named Soritamon has claimed lordship and is destroying individuals by the thousands. He's recently taken over Primary Village and it-"

"-Using the data link to absorb the data of deleted digimon," Marie finished. "How? Soritamon isn't supposed to be real."

"He is to you," Gennai said. "You created him. The powers that be in the digiworld made him real."

"Digiworld?" Katrina said, piping up. "What are you talking about? Isn't Gennai a character in the anime, 'Digimon?'"

"Yes, and yes," Marie said. "The digital world is real. Digimon are real. The anime and manga are based off of the world. The heroes and situations aren't real, but the world and basis is."

"Impossible!" Katrina said. "This is some practical joke, right? Or, a bad dream?"

"See, they wouldn't have believed me," Gennai said. "Looks like you have your work cut out for you. Wizardmon is already waiting for you. Their partners were waiting with him at the original location, but Soritamon's henchman found them and they scattered."

"Gennai, I don't-"

"-have a choice, that's right," Gennai said, turning around. "I'm glad to see you still wear your camera. Well, good luck!" Felix and the others were about to protest angrily when the white space disappeared. They were "hovering" in a black space. Then, their feet were flat on solid ground. They were standing in the ruins of what looked to be a building.

Marie sighed and looked at the group behind her. "I'm really sorry about this," she said. "If it weren't for the potential threat to our own world, I would never have worried about the digital world in the first place."

"You seem to know a lot about this," Tori said. "Have you been here before?"

"Yeah, with a team that was wiped out!" Aaron said. "We're doomed! We're as good as dead!"

"No, Aaron," Marie said patiently. "The digimon and digivices were all destroyed, save for mine, but their human partners survived. That's why I'm back, because I have experience and I'm the only one left. You're here because we need a new team."

"I don't wanna!" Tori whined.

"You said you slipped form a two-story roof," Katrina said. "Would you rather be there, nothing more than a squashed bug on your lawn?" Tori quieted and looked down at her boots. "All right, I'll believe it," Katrina said. "I'm not too much into the anime, but I know the basics of the show."

"You're at an advantage compared to me," Felix said. "I'm from Canada. I've never heard of Digimon."

"Same here," Cian said. "We don't have this show in Ontario, and if so I've never watched."

"I've heard of it," Tori said quietly. "I watched some of the episodes with Tai and Sora and that one cat."

"Gatomon," Marie said, looking around. "There have been four more seasons since that one. Where is Wizardmon?"

"Your partner?" Katrina asked. Marie nodded. Then, she started walking from the group. They followed, not knowing much else on what to do. The group ended up walking around the town practically in circles. They eventually opted to sit in the building they had arrived in while Marie kept looking for Wizardmon. Katrina took the time to explain everything she knew about Digimon to the rest of them. The sky was orange with the setting sun by the time Marie returned.

"I don't know what Gennai was talking about," she said. "Wizardmon isn't anywhere around here." She looked around, as if distracted, before saying, "We should stay here, build a fire, and wait at least until morning before we dare move around without protection." Tori whimpered as she hugged her knees. Cian and Felix groaned. Cian leaned back on his hands while Felix lay on his back. Katrina scooted closer to Tori to comfort the scared girl.

"Maybe we should get to know each other a little," Katrina offered, breaking the silence. "You know, names, where we're all from, etcetera." She looked at the others. Seeing no one volunteering anything, she began. "Well, I'm Katrina Marsh. I'm a freshman med student at Ohio University in Cincinnati. I'm 19, and I love anime and role-playing."

"Too bad digimon isn't your strong point," Aaron said. "Well, I'm Aaron Jacobs. I'm 16, and a... junior in high school. I go to school with Marie. Uh, I'm into video games."

"Same here," Felix said, sitting up. "I'm Felix Adoken from Halifax, Nova Scotia. I play soccer, I'm 18, I have a girlfriend, I play video games, and I roleplay online."

"Online, eh?" Cian said. "So do I. I'm Cian James. I roleplay at Jaia Online, a lot. I'm spiritual and in all honesty I'm kind of a health nut."

"I roleplay at Jaia Online!" Tori said excitedly. "I roleplay Sailor Moon a lot!"

"Hey, so do I," Katrina said. "Well, that and Hellsing."

"I'm more for fantasy roleplays set in medieval-like places," Felix said. "I'm in one a friend created called 'Warriors Unite.'"

"I'm in that one too!" Cian exclaimed. "How weird. I play Dias."

"You're Dias?" Felix asked. "I'm Adare!"

"And I'm Karras," Marie said quietly. Everyone looked at her in surprise. "I don't believe it, we're all on Jaia. It's like our connection. This wasn't random, Gennai's program chose people based on my friends on Jaia. Katrina, aren't you in the 'Senshi Across Time' roleplay?"

"Yeah, I'm Keiya," Katrina said proudly.

"I'm Sailor Mars!" Tori said. "Well, I'm actually Tori, but I roleplay Sailor Mars in every Sailor Moon roleplay I do!"

"You're all connected to me," Marie said again, "You two through the Sailor Moon roleplay, and you two through my Warriors Unite roleplay."

"Oh yeah, you're the one who created it," Felix said. "I couldn't remember."

"Then what about me?" Aaron asked.

"You're on Jaia, too," Marie said, "And I know you offline. That's our connection."

"So, this program chose people based on you because you are the veteran?" Katrina said.

"It must be," Marie said. "Okay, anyway, we need a fire or something. There's a woodpile over on the other side of the town. I'll go grab it and be right back."

"Whoa, not alone," Cian said, standing up. "Not with it getting dark. I'll come with you and help."

"Maybe I should," Aaron said, also standing up.

"Whoa boys, settle down!" Marie said, laughing nervously. "I'll be fine. Remember, I'm the veteran." She turned and disappeared through the darkened doorway. Aaron and Cian sat back down, and the circle fell into silence.

All was dark and Tori was just starting to drift off to sleep when the group heard a scream. "Marie!" Aaron shouted, jumping up. He was about to take off when Felix reached out and grabbed the collar of his jacket.

"Whoa, we don't know what's out there," he said. Everyone was now standing. "It's too dark, I can barely see you. We'd be defenseless out there."

"We're defenseless here!" Katrina said. "Marie's obviously in trouble!"

"I'm okay!" Marie shouted, running into their limited sight. Behind her came a bright light. It enveloped them all. When their eyes adjusted, they saw a short human in a pointed hat. In his hand was a staff that seemed to have an elongated sun atop it. "This is Wizardmon. Are the others coming?"

"They have to," Wizardmon said. "If they don't-"

"RUN!" shouted a small voice as five creatures came into the light. They seemed to be a bird, a largish lion cub, a large bee, a small cat, and a floating weasel-like creature with its body wrapped around something long and gold.

"You heard her!" Marie shouted. "Run!" The group didn't need to be told a third time as they broke into a run. They ran out of the ruins of the building through a large hole in its wall. Just as they cleared it, the ground shook and the ear-splitting sound of cracking rocks made the group shudder. Only Tori looked back to see what had happened. The building they had just been in was falling apart. From it stepped a large red bug that she recognized.

"It's a- It's a- It's a Kuwagamon!" she screamed. Her left foot tripped over her right and she hit the ground hard, rolling a few feet before stopping. She started to cry when the little cat ran up to her.

"Keep going!" she shouted to the others. She looked at Tori and said quickly, "I'm Salamon, your partner. Take the digivice from around my neck and get up!" Tori didn't hesitate as she slipped the heavy string over the cat's head and got shakily to her feet. She couldn't see the thing in her hand as she ran. She only ran a few feet before the ground shook so hard she fell again.

"Salamon, what do I do!" Tori wailed.

"You have to help me digivolve!" Salamon said. "Get up and run!"

"No no no no!" Tori cried. "I'm scared! This is just a bad dream! I wanna wake up! Daddy! Wake me up! Save me!"

"Get up!" Salamon shouted. She gasped as Kuwagamon stopped only feet from where the two of them were. Salamon jumped in front of Tori. "You have to help me digivolve!" Salamon said.

"I don't know how!" Tori wailed. "I don't wanna die!"

Salamon shook her head as Kuwagamon reared his own for an attack. She didn't hesitate when she ran at Kuwagamon and leapt up on his knee. She kicked off of it instantly and aimed for his shoulder. From there, she kicked off and flew right in front of the angered digimon's voice. "Petty Punch!" Salamon shouted. She was just near enough for her front paw to punch Kuwagamon's jaw. Tori watched in fearful surprise. Then, she cried when Salamon was struck in mid air by one of Kuwagamon's claws. The little cat landed hard on the ground just ahead of Tori.

"Salamon!" she shouted, getting to her feet and running over to the cat. It was struggling to her feet. "I don't' know how to help," she cried. "What do I do?" She looked behind her and cried out as Kuwagamon walked nearer. Tori picked up Salamon and went to run, but found her legs to be too sore, as well as paralyzed in fear. She held Salamon close to her face as she cried. "Please help me."

Several buildings away, Marie and Wizardmon skidded to a halt, prompting the others to do so. "Salamon hasn't digivolved," Marie said. "We have to go back! The rest of you, stay! Lets go Wi-" In the distance, a bright light shot up into the sky.

"There it is!" Wizardmon said.

"Salamon digivolve to BlackGatomon!" In Tori's arms, little Salamon changed, becoming larger and much more catlike. Now, she was black with purple cat-like gloves. Now BlackGatomon, she leapt from the little girl's arms and ran at Kuwagamon with lightning speed. She approached Kuwagamon rapidly, then jumped up into the air, shouting, "Lightning Kick!" The cat spun once, bringing her leg around and kicking Kuwagamon square in the stomach. The bug toppled onto the ruined buildings in confusion. Now on its back, BlackGatomon hopped onto it and looked it square in the eye. "Cat's Eye Hypnotism!" BlackGatomon leapt away as the bug stood up again. "Go fly yourself into a mountain!" BlackGatomon ordered. Kuwagamon didn't say anything as it flew into the air. The force of the air form its wings pushed Tori onto her knees. Then, the Kuwagamon turned and flew into the night. Tori simply watched in excitement.

"You did it!" she shouted. "Yay! Thank you!"

BlackGatomon clapped her hands together and walked over to the girl. "Next time, snap to it," she said. Tori paid the cat's words no mind as she pulled her in for a deadly hug. "Okay, you're welcome, I get it..."

"Tori!" Katrina shouted. Tori looked over her should to see the group coming up behind her.

When they were in sight, Marie saw BlackGatomon. "BlackGatomon? I thought you were gonna be a Gatomon."

"Well, no," BlackGatomon said, still in Tori's arms. "Let's just say I'm a little different, even in my younger forms. Kid you're gonna kill me!" Tori gasped and released BlackGatomon. The cat promptly sprung away.

"So, do I call you BlackGatomon or do you have a different name?" Tori asked.

"We digimon go by the name of our species," Wizardmon said. "Even though there are several Wizardmon in the digital world, you would still address me as Wizardmon."

"I'm gonna call her Blackie!" Tori said enthusiastically.

"But, didn't you hear what I said?" Wizardmon asked.

"In one ear and out the other," BlackGatomon said, scratching her head. "It's no biggie. She can call me that if she wants. My name is pretty long, anyway."

"Wizardmon, how about a fire?" Marie said, rubbing her arm. Wizardmon nodded and pointed his staff at a pile of wood. A spark went off from his staff and struck the pile, igniting a fire immediately. Soon, they were all sitting around it, save for the other digimon. They all had a string around their necks, and hanging from the string was a digivice similar to Tori's black and purple one. "Do you all know the names of your partners?" Marie asked. The digimon nodded. "Well then, let me introduce you all." She began to her left and said, "Aaron, Cian, Katrina, Felix, and Tori." Then she pointed at the digimon. "Leormon, FanBeemon, Falcomon, and Kudamon."

The lion cub named Leormon walked promptly over to Cian and bowed his head. "He wants you to take your digivice," Marie said. Cian nodded and slipped the yellow and red digivice from Leormon's neck. Next, Kudamon floated over to Katrina. She removed her own pink and blue digivice as Felix removed his light blue and green one from FanBeemon's neck. Aaron had a hard time removing his from Falcomon's neck, as the string kept getting caught on the bird's feathers. Finally, Aaron was holding his white and grey digivice. No one spoke for a while. Then, Katrina spoke up.

"You know, these look familiar," she said, looking her digivice over.

"That is because they are the same designs as the digivices from the first season of Digimon," Marie said.

"Where is your digivice?" Cian asked. Marie slipped her small camera over her head. She held it in her palm with the front facing up. Then, she pressed the blue grip material. Some gasped as the camera spun in her palm, radiating with light. When the light and spinning stopped, it was red and pink and had three buttons. It reminded Aaron of an iPod.

"When we came to the digiworld three years ago," Marie said, "Each of us had a piece of electronic equipment. There was a CD player, a cell phone, a tamogatchi, a Game Boy, and my camera. Each item was converted into a dual item, being half what it originally was and half digivice. I don't think I'll be getting a new digivice."

"So that's why you wear it all of the time?" Aaron asked. "That's why Gennai said he was happy to see you still had it?" Marie nodded.

"Why don't you tell us about the team before?" Felix suggested. "You know, to pass the time until morning."

"I think you should sleep," Wizardmon said. "Everyone. I'll stay up and watch for trouble."

"That sounds like a good plan," Marie said, already lying on her back. No one objected, and soon almost all of them were asleep. Tori was curled up on her side, with Blackie right next to her. Felix and Katrina were asleep on their backs with their digimon partners sleeping on their shoulder and stomach, respectively. Cian and Aaron were still away. Cian was on his stomach, looking at the fire. Aaron was on his side, looking out into the distance. He was almost asleep when he heard Marie move. He turned quietly to see her sitting up. She was looking at the group. When her eyes caught Aaron's, she smiled. "Not tired?" she asked.

"Nah," Aaron said. He carefully sat up as to not disturb Falcomon. "Been too much excitement."

"Same here," Cian said, walking over to their side. "Hey, do you think I'll have to keep Leormon away from Falcomon?" Aaron drew a blank while Marie shook her head.

"No, I don't think it will be a problem," she said.

"So, where did Wizardmon go?" Cian asked. "Is he walking around?" Marie nodded.

"So, what are we going to do in the morning?" Aaron asked.

"Start heading east," Marie said. "Primary Village is east of here."

Cian and Aaron nodded. The three of them remained in silence for the rest of the night.


End file.
